It did not take long for Root’s five-year-old son Billy to start hearing a young voice calling him to play. Then one night, Billy caught a glimpse in a mirror of a little boy dressed in a Civil War outfit.

However, her attention soon switched to her daughter, who had been diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer and given only ten days to live when Bethany was just twenty-four-years old.

After emergency surgery and chemotherapy, Bethany started to recover, beating the slim odds. Now she is celebrating ten years cancer free.

Her illness still haunts Root, not only because she had nearly lost her child, but because Bethany had aged out of all the emotional and family support provided to children with a critical illnesses.